To Catch A Kiss
by Julie Horwitz
Summary: Larmina suspects that there is something going on between Keith and Allura and recruits Daniel and a reluctant Vince to help her find out what it is.


**Disclaimer: **

The following is a work of fanfiction. All characters and situations belonging to "Voltron: Defender of the Universe" and "Voltron Force" are copyrighted to World Event Productions. Everything else is of my own creation.

**Author's Notes: **

This story takes place in the same slight "Voltron Force" AU I created in my story "Secrets Revealed." While all episodes of "Voltron Force" are canon through "Army of One," as of this story, Keith and Allura are already in an established relationship and got married after the events in the episode "Crossed Signals." This story takes place between "Army of One" and "Deceive and Conquer."  
The main characters of this story are Larmina, Daniel, and Vince. If you are not a fan of the cadets, this story is probably not for you. I happen to adore them and they are what made "Voltron Force" such an enjoyable show for me to watch. I know my view differs from most other adult "Voltron" fans.  
Please note that I have not read the Devil's Due comic book series, which is where most authors seem to draw most of their character history. I solely use information from the two animated series as well as some items I have myself invented.  
For those of you who are interested and are over 18, there is an adult tag scene that goes along with this story. The story is called "Behind Closed Doors" and it is rated NC-17 for explicit content. Due to the site rules, it will not be posted here. Please see my profile for my AdultFanfiction and Freedom of Speech Fanfiction profile links if you would like to read it.  
All questions and comments may be sent to me at my e-mail address. Please see my author profile for details.  
Thank you and I hope you enjoy the story.

_**To Catch A Kiss **_  
by  
Julie Horwitz

"There's something going on between Keith and Aunt Allura," Larmina announced as she came into the Lair, "and you two are going to help me find out what it is."

_Oh, snart!_ was Vince's immediate reaction as he looked up from the technical manual he was reading.

He knew _exactly_ what was going on between the queen and the Voltron Force commander.

And not for the first time, he really wished he didn't. (Some knowledge was just too dangerous!)

"You're first noticing that?" Daniel commented while still playing his video game. He didn't even bother to glance up. "There's been something going on between those two since the day we met them. I mean, have you seen all those bizarre looks they're always giving each other? And then there's all that standing near each other. I think I've even caught them holding hands once or twice when they thought no one was looking. Oh, yeah, they've definitely got a thing going on. You've lived with them longer than we have. I'm surprised you haven't picked up on it before. Why the sudden interest?"

"Hey, I've always noticed it," she defended herself. "You'd have to be blind not to. But there's something different about it now. It's...I don't know...changed somehow. It's gone way beyond just being a thing. It's like they're even more completely into each other now than they ever were before."

Daniel snorted. "As if they could get _any more_ into each other if they tried. They've reached the limit."

_Oh, they've gone much further than that,_ Vince thought to himself, making sure he wasn't sending to Daniel and really hoping that he wasn't turning red from the memory.

Several months ago, before Allura had resigned from the Force to rule as queen and before he had inherited the Green Lion from Pidge, he had been unable to sleep one night and as he often did when he couldn't fall asleep, he had decided to play around with his ability to connect his mind with computers. (It sure beat talking to the space mice!) The experiment this time had been to see if he could access all of the security cameras in the castle, including the ones that were normally kept turned off, such as in personal living quarters. Given the time it had been, around three in the morning, he had assumed that everyone would be sleeping and that no one would notice their camera turn on for a second or two.

Much to his shock, two people were most definitely _not_ sleeping.

And one of them wasn't even in her own room!

The sight could not have been more embarrassing: Allura and Keith had been making out in the commander's quarters.

Laying on the commander's bed and _really_ making out.

Their hands had been all over each other. (Vince still thanked his lucky stars that they had both been fully clothed. He didn't think he could have handled seeing _that_ much of either one of them!)

He had of course immediately shut down the camera, disconnected his mind from the computer, and made a run for his quarters as quickly as possible. If anyone would have noticed a moving security camera, it would be Keith. And if Keith had seen it, there'd be no hiding the truth from him. He would have made it his personal mission to find out who had spied on him and the princess. And that would have meant the end of everything for Vince. He would have been on the first transport back to Earth, his dreams of being a member of the Voltron Force destroyed.

But the days, then weeks, then months had passed by and the incident had never been mentioned, which meant that luck had clearly been with Vince that night and Keith had been too, er, distracted to notice the camera's brief activation. And he knew for certain that he was in the clear when he had been given Green Lion and there had been no objections from either Keith or Allura.

Vince had put the entire thing mostly out of his mind and went on with his regular (well, as regular as it could be for someone who piloted a mechanical lion that formed part of a giant robot) life. What Keith and Allura did in the privacy of their own rooms was nobody's business. (If Vince had to guess based on how hot and heavy they'd been that night, they'd been romantically involved for some time.) And since it had not affected either's ability to function as a part of the team in any way, there was no reason to mess up what they had by telling on them.

Now they were in danger of being discovered by Larmina and Daniel. And neither of them was the kind of person who could be trusted to keep something like that to himself. It would be a blackmail goldmine. Daniel would probably see it as a way to get into the Black Lion and Larmina would use it to make her aunt back down on all the royal stuff she hated so much. It would be a total disaster.

"Well, then they've gone way beyond that limit," Larmina declared. "Way, way, _way_ beyond."

Daniel finally put down his gaming device. "Are you saying what I think you're saying? As in you think that Keith and Allura are madly in love with each other and are having a secret affair?"

If Vince had been drinking anything, he would have spit it out.

_Double snart!_

"Exactly!" Larmina confirmed. "That's exactly what I think is going on! I only need to prove it and I can't do it on my own. So are you in?"

"Are you kidding me? A chance to have a little power over our fearless leader and your aunt? Dude, I'm so in!" Daniel let her know.

"Whoo-hoo!" she cheered. "I knew I could count on you!" She then turned her attention to Vince. "So how about you? Are you in or what?"

"Um..."

Vince knew he had to find a way out of this without tipping either of them off that he already knew the truth. And that was going to be hard enough even without Daniel's ability to hear his thoughts.

Thinking quickly, he said "I don't think this is a good idea, guys. Keith and Allura are the last two people we should be messing with. We make them mad and it's goodbye Voltron Force. Besides, why should we care if they're together or not? It's not like it's any of our business or anything."

It was a nice, neutral thing to say. It didn't make it sound at all like he was hiding anything from them.

"Uh, hello? Allura's my aunt! That's not the kind of thing you're supposed to keep from your niece!" Larmina asserted. "It's just not right! There shouldn't be any secrets between us. Especially when it comes to guys!"

"Really?" Daniel spoke up. "What about all the secrets you're keeping from her?"

"That's completely different," Larmina waved him off, folding her arms. "I'm a rebellious teenager. I'm _supposed_ to have secrets."

"Oookay," Daniel said, rolling his eyes. "If you say so."

"I do say so," she affirmed. "You got a problem with that, Mr.-infected-with-Haggarium-and-keeping-it-a-secret?"

"Not at all," Daniel replied with a grin. He turned back to Vince. "So what's your answer? You gonna help us or not?"

_Come on! It'll be fun! Trust me!_ Daniel mentally urged him.

_Fun isn't the word I'd use for spying on our commander. Suicidal is more like it,_ Vince retorted.

_Party pooper!_

Out loud, Vince asked, "Do I really have a choice?"

"No, not really," Larmina assured him.

"I didn't think so," he sighed.

He didn't know what he was going to do, but whatever it was, he'd have to figure it out fast. Keith and Allura's privacy depended on it.

"Great! Now that we're all on the same page, here's what we're gonna do..."

((()))

Larmina decided that if she ever needed a sleeping aid, a recording of any one of Pidge's lectures would do the trick. They were so boring!

She didn't understand why she and Vince were still required to attend class now that they were official Voltron Force members. (Well, she was pretty sure Vince would still have gone anyway. He was such a nerd. But her?) What could be more educational than going on real missions? (And less boring, too!) This was a complete waste of her time.

Continuing to tune out Pidge's droning voice (she didn't even know what he was talking about!), she turned her mind to more important things.

Such as catching Aunt Allura and Keith in the act of doing something romantic.

She'd been aware that there was something between them for as long as she had known them. Even as a little kid, she'd noticed the way they acted around each other. It had only gotten more obvious over the years. But nothing had proved it to her more than Aunt Allura's five year mopefest while Keith was gone. Larmina had never seen anyone so depressed in her entire life. (Aunt Allura had tried to hide it, of course, but those who knew her best saw right through her.)

Then Keith had come back, bringing the mushiness with him, and Allura instantly reverted to her old self. It was like he had never left.

Almost.

Something had definitely changed between them since the reunion and it had slowly but steadily become more noticeable. Nothing majorly obvious, just little things. A lingering glance here and a touch of the hands there. They were happening much more often now. And the biggest change had started happening right after Keith had found out that his family was Arusian.

The rule about Aunt Allura having to marry a prince actually applied only to off-worlders. The princess or queen-it turned out-was not required to get married to take the throne after all. Coran and Nanny had misinterpreted an old law. The day Allura had found out had been one of the only happy times Larmina could remember during the five years her aunt had been Keith-less. She could also choose an Arusian noble as her king. And since Keith was descended from the Knights of Arus...

Her only guess was that they'd finally officially hooked up. It made perfect sense to her since it was now okay for them to be a couple. She didn't get why they were trying to hide it though. Everyone and their brother knew that they liked each other. What was the point of keeping the fact that they had gotten together a secret?

Well, that was what she intended to find out. All she had to do was catch them with her digipix and she'd have the proof to back up her claim. And then-

"Ow!" she cried out as someone kicked her leg under her desk.

She turned to glare at the only possible culprit and found Daniel to be feigning complete innocence.

"Was I boring you, Larmina?" an annoyed Pidge wanted to know as he came to stand right in front of her desk, his arms crossed.

"Um..."

She knew that saying "yes" would only get her in a whole lot of trouble.

"Busted!" Daniel muttered under his breath.

She resisted the urge to kick him back. Or better yet, punch his lights out.

"Uh, my mind wandered for a second," she quickly assured Pidge. She gave him the most angelic and ladylike smile she could manage. "There's something I just remembered that I forgot to do. It's no big deal. It won't happen again. I promise."

"Uh-huh," was Pidge's unenthusiastic response. He was clearly not convinced.

Finally, he just sighed. "Perhaps we should just wrap things up for today. I've given you a lot of new information to process and it might be best to wait until tomorrow before I give you the rest of it."

"There's more?" Vince the super geek spoke up. "Awesome! I can't wait!"

Larmina just shook her head while Daniel dropped his face into his hands.

"What?" Vince wanted to know. "What's so wrong about liking science?"

Larmina decided it would be best not to start in with him. After all, they had a mission to perform and she needed his help, reluctant as it was. (Vince could be such a killjoy sometimes.)

Not giving Pidge a chance to grab her and lecture her on classroom etiquette (she got enough of that crud from Aunt Allura), she leaped up from her desk and practically ran out the door. She found a spot a little ways down the hall and leaned against the wall to wait for her partners in crime.

It took about five minutes for them to show up.

Ignoring Vince's look of utter dismay, she greeted them with "Everyone remember their assignments?"

"Yep," Daniel assured her. "I'll handle Keith while Vince feels out the others to see what they know. And you're on queen-tailing detail."

"You've got it," she grinned. "We've got about four and half hours before dinner. The lovebirds are bound to have a secret rendezvous before then. And when they do..." She pulled out her digipix. "Cheese!"

"This is going to be so wicked!" Daniel returned her grin. "There's no way that they can deny photographic proof. That picture is going to be our ticket to power around here."

"We're so dead," Vince groaned. "I'm never seeing the inside of Green ever again."

"Grow up, you baby," Larmina berated him. "Once we have that picture, we can make them do whatever we want. If they want their secret kept, they'll have to do anything we say. It'll be great."

"It's going to be so sweet!" Daniel agreed. "I'll be in Black Lion so fast! Well, I'm off to stalk the commander. I'm sure I'll be seeing you soon, Larmina. Vince, have fun with the guys. If we get our proof before you're done, I'll contact you. Later!"

With that, he walked off, leaving Larmina with an even unhappier, if that was even possible, looking Vince.

"You should probably start with Pidge," she suggested before he had a chance to try protesting again. "Ask more about that whatever it was he was droning on about in class today."

"You mean the solar-planetary gravitational dynamics."

"Yeah, whatever you just said," she agreed. "Go talk to him about that. Then slip in something about Aunt Allura and Keith the first chance you get. If he's a dead-end, Hunk should be next. Lance should be your last resort. Be extra careful with him. One wrong word and this whole thing gets blown. And we'll all know whose fault it was."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Larmina," Vince sarcastically said.

"Hey, you're probably not gonna even get to talk to Lance anyway," she assured him. "I mean, how long can Aunt Allura and Keith stay away from each other? It's probably not even going to take two hours. And then they'll be putty in our hands for the rest of their lives!"

Vince just looked at her.

"You're no fun," she accused.

Deciding that she'd had enough enjoyment out of tormenting him, she wished him "Good luck" and then started down the hall to start her own part of the mission.

Aunt Allura's office was located in the wing of the castle that was devoted to all the administrative functions of running a planet. Being first the princess then the queen, she of course had the biggest office of everyone. It sat by itself at the end of a nice quiet hallway.

A hallway lined with lots and lots of alcoves and utility closets.

It didn't take long for Larmina to reach the hall. She pressed herself up against the wall at the junction and peeked around the corner to see what was going on.

As usual, Aunt Allura's door was wide open, which gave Larmina a perfect view of what was going on inside. Which, of course, was absolutely nothing exciting or incriminating. Her aunt was all alone and quietly reading through a stack of paperwork.

_Yet another snoozefest,_ she decided. _Can she be any more boring?_

Using her ninja stealth skills to avoid detection, she turned the corner and moved into the hallway. Scanning all of the available hiding places lining the corridor, she spotted a lovely alcove with a gigantic plant in front of it. No one would ever think to see if anyone was hiding back there.

Pleased with her choice, she quickly crossed the floor and plopped down behind the big fern.

No one was going to get past her without being spotted. It was perfect.

As soon as Keith walked by, she'd be able to spring her trap.

Now all she had to do was wait until he did.

((()))

Daniel smirked to himself at the epicness of his own genius. While he gave Larmina credit for the idea of catching the lovebirds in the act (blackmail material, baby!), her plan paled next to the sheer brilliance of his own. (Just more proof that he was destined to be the Black Lion pilot. He was born to lead.) Not only couldn't it fail, but it would take a whole lot less time to get results than her scheme of just sitting and waiting for their targets to slip up.

It was so simple, too: he was going to ask the commander about girls.

He could already picture exactly how the entire scenario would play out. After he found Keith, he'd approach him and, pretending to be nervous, he'd ask if he could get some advice. Keith, being the ever-helpful kind of guy he is, would of course be willing to do what he could to help. Daniel would then start weaving his fictional tale of a super hot girl that he had his eye on and wanted to make his move on but didn't know how. Predictably, Keith would try to tell him to ask Lance instead of him, but Daniel knew how to be persistent. He would also turn on the flattery and hero-worship. (Hey, everyone knew a little butt-kissing could go a long way, even with someone as perpetually serious as Keith.) He doubted it would take long before Keith gave in just to shut him up and spouted something that he'd probably used to hook Allura. Daniel would thank him profusely and suggest that it must have worked on Keith's own girlfriend. Keith would of course immediately deny having a girlfriend, which would be Daniel's cue to bring out the smoking gun: the list of "incriminating" behavior he had observed since coming to the Castle of Lions. Then, the crowning achievement of his awesome plan: he'd flat out ask for her name.

Daniel had no illusions that that would work, but that wasn't the goal. The true endgame would be what Keith would do next. If Daniel's prediction was correct, and there was no way it wasn't, Keith would excuse himself and head straight for Allura to warn her that they were being way too careless with their supposedly secret romance. And in the process he'd walk right into Larmina's trap.

As he kept saying, his plan couldn't fail. It was pure win.

Feeling extremely confident, Daniel set off to find Keith and to put his awesome plan into action.

((()))

Vince stood just outside of the repair bay doors, trying to quiet his nerves. Pidge and Hunk were both inside the bay, working on yet another weapon to add to the castle's arsenal. He knew he had to go in there and talk to them if he was going to have any chance of finding a way to help Keith and Allura. If anyone could help him solve his dilemma, it was Pidge.

Of course, the trick would be to explain his problem without actually _saying_ what it was.

But Larmina and Daniel had to be stopped before they caused any irreparable harm.

Taking a deep breath to steel himself, Vince entered the repair bay.

He spotted his two teammates on the far side of the area. Pidge was sitting at a computer terminal furiously typing while Hunk was sorting through piles of various metal components.

"How about this one?" Hunk asked, holding up something that looked like it had previously been a motherboard.

Pidge turned away from his computer to take a look.

"That processor's not fast enough," he said as he rejected it. "It doesn't have the capacity we need. Find something bigger."

"Not necessarily," Vince spoke up as he approached, unable to resist solving a computer related problem and momentarily allowing him to forget his true reason for coming in. (It was kind of his thing, after all.) "All you'd need to do is create some sort of hub connecting several boards of the same size together. It would take up a little more space, but the advantage would be that the circuitry is spread out and less vulnerable."

"An excellent idea, Vince," Pidge praised him. "That never occurred to me."

Vince beamed. There was nothing quite like getting compliments from a personal hero.

"Hunk, any more of those in there?"

"Give me a second to take a look." Hunk rummaged through the pile. "Yep, there's a whole bunch."

"Perfect," Pidge declared and turned back to his computer. "I have to tweak the design a little to accommodate this change. It shouldn't take very long."

"So, Vince buddy, what brings you down here?" Hunk wanted to know as he collected the motherboards. "You looking for something to do?"

The happiness that had been brought on by the computer-related brainstorming melted away as he was reminded of his mission.

"Actually...I need some advice," he admitted.

Pidge stopped his typing and turned back to Vince. "Of course. How can we be of assistance?"

_Oh, boy._

This was going to be harder than he thought. How to state his problem without giving too much away? Even the most complex equations were simpler than this!

"I, uh, kind of know something that I'm not supposed to," he began, trying to think of how to word everything. "And I'm worried what will happen if anyone else finds out about it. I'm afraid people will get, well, hurt. I need to know how to keep anyone else from learning about it without letting them know that I know."

It was a mouthful but it was pretty much the truth.

More or less.

"And how exactly did you find out this information that you weren't supposed to know about?" Pidge questioned.

_Think, Vince, think!_

"I, uh, overheard a conversation," he lied. (There was no way in the entire universe that he'd admit how he really found out. That would not be good for his future on Arus.)

Pidge and Hunk were silent for a moment and then looked at each other.

"Daniel," they said in unison.

_Wait, what? Daniel?!_

Why in the world had they thought of Daniel? He hadn't said any names at all. How did they go from overheard conversations to Daniel?

Sure, he was the resident troublemaker, but what did that have to do with what he'd said?

Pidge crossed his arms. "All right, Vince. You might as well tell us the whole story. What's Daniel up to this time? Is he going on another unauthorized mission? Or is he just planning on taking Black for another joyride without permission?"

"Definitely not a good way to convince Keith that he's ready to lead," Hunk added for good measure.

Vince had absolutely no idea how to respond. How had they come to the conclusion that Daniel was the source of his problem? (Though, in a way, he kind of was. Without Daniel's assistance, Larmina's plan had a very small chance of success. He was the one who was good at getting things done.) How was he going to get himself out of this mess?

"It's okay, Vince," Pidge assured him when he didn't say anything. "Daniel won't find out that you told on him. Just tell us what he's planning and we'll handle it from here."

_Uh-oh. What can I say? I've gotta say something!_

"We won't tell Keith either," Hunk said. "We'll let Lance handle it. He's pretty good at dealing with Daniel."

"Good idea," Pidge agreed. "He is the one of us with the most teaching and disciplinary experience."

"Five years of snart-faced brats at the academy can do that to a guy," Hunk quipped. Then, as if remembering how Vince had come to the Voltron Force's attention, quickly added, "No offense."

"None taken," Vince waved him off, grateful for the couple of seconds that bought him.

_Think! Think! Think!_

"You know, maybe I should try talking to Daniel first," he suggested, mentally crossing his fingers that he'd found his way out of this disaster zone. "What if I actually misheard the entire thing and overreacted? I should probably find out before we take this any further."

"It's up to you, Vince," Pidge told him. "You're the one who came to us for help."

"I know," he said, "and talking to both of you guys has really helped me clear my head. And I thank you, but I'm starting to think that maybe he never actually said what I thought he said." It was scary at how easily the lies were coming to him. Daniel was really starting to rub off on him! "I don't want to get him into any trouble if there isn't any in the first place."

Daniel would kill him!

"Then I think you need to talk to him," Pidge decided. "If it turns out to be nothing, great. No problem. But if it's not..."

"I'll come right back," Vince promised, realizing that he'd actually done it. He'd saved both his and Daniel's butts. It was a miracle! "Let me go find him right now."

"We're not going anywhere," Pidge let him know.

"At least not until dinnertime," Hunk clarified.

"If you don't hear from me before then, then everything's cool," Vince told them, starting to walk away.

"Or Daniel's killed you," Hunk suggested.

Vince only shook his head.

"We'll see you later, Vince," Pidge said and then he turned back to his computer. "Now where was I..."

Almost immediately, he resumed his furious typing.

Vince calmly crossed the repair bay floor, determined not to let them see his immense relief.

Once he was through the doors...

This hadn't at all gone as he thought it would. Instead of getting an idea of how to stop Daniel and Larmina from ruining Keith and Allura's happiness, he had barely avoided having Daniel punished for something he hadn't even done yet! (But probably eventually would!) Talk about the ultimate disaster!

He finally reached the exit and once he was through, sighed the biggest sigh of relief that was humanly possible.

He was quickly running out of options. There was only one person left to talk to and he was the most dangerous because of his close friendship with both Keith and Allura. As Larmina had told him, one wrong word on his part and they were all toast. Goodbye Arus and hello Earth!

But the one advantage to Lance was that he liked being considered the cool one by the three of them. He might be willing to do things the others wouldn't to maintain his status. Like getting involved in solving a problem that he knew very little about.

At least, Vince hoped he would. He was also really quick to give them punishments when they misbehaved. Latrine duty was still his favorite.

Knowing he had no other choice but to risk it, he set off to find Lance.

((()))

_Boring!_ Larmina complained for the millionth time since beginning her stakeout of Aunt Allura. Did the woman ever do anything but work?

In the short time she'd been there, Allura had read papers, made several calls including one to Coran at Alliance headquarters on Earth, and written lots of stuff. She'd gone to the bathroom maybe twice, but that was the closest she'd ever come to taking a break. She hadn't even eaten any snacks! (How did she survive?)

Larmina didn't know how much more of this she could take. She was close to falling asleep as it was! Keith had better come to visit his girlfriend soon! Otherwise she'd sleep right through it!

She hoped Daniel and Vince were having better luck than she was.

((()))

_Gotcha,_ Daniel thought triumphantly as he finally located Keith in the control room.

It was the third place he'd looked and as the saying went, the third time's the charm. (It was strange how there never seemed to be any castle staff around when anyone needed to ask for something. Honestly, it seemed like the Voltron Force were the only ones who lived here!)

Now it was time to put his infallible scheme into action.

Doing his best to make himself seem nervous and unsure (acting had never been one of his strong suits), he crossed the room to where Keith was seated at a console, working intently on something.

Keith, deep in concentration, did not seem to notice Daniel's approach.

But before Daniel could even open his mouth, Keith said, "Something I can help you with, Daniel?"

_I want to be that good!_

"Um, yeah, I, uh, need your advice about something," Daniel said as timidly as he could manage. (He had no idea how it actually sounded to Keith. Too bad he hadn't tried this out beforehand on Vince.)

Keith turned around with his arms folded.

"What sort of advice?" he questioned, sounding as skeptical as Daniel had predicted he would.

Daniel knew he wasn't known for taking, much less asking, for advice. So in order for this whole thing to work, he would really have to sell it.

"Well, there's this girl..."

Keith raised an eyebrow. "You've come to me about a girl?"

"Uh-huh," he nodded.

"Me?"

"Why not?" Daniel wanted to know.

Daniel knew he'd scored a hit when Keith didn't have a good answer for that one. Instead, Keith tried, "I think Lance would be the better one to ask about girls. That's more his area of expertise."

"I don't think this girl would respond to his sort of approach," Daniel said reasonably. "He's too, um, overbearing." (Was that even the right word to use? Man, this was harder than he'd thought it would be!) "She needs something more...more...subtle."

"So again I ask you, why me?" Keith pressed.

"Because you're the one the girls I knew back home always used to go for," Daniel told him truthfully. And it _was_ the truth. Before the Voltron Force had been named criminals by Wade, the girls at his school used to swoon over the commander. The other guys had had a few fan girls, but none in the same numbers as Keith. "You were always considered the hot one. I think a lot of it had to do with your old hairstyle."

By Keith's expression, Daniel could see that this was all new information for him. Which was pretty funny considering the size of his former female fan base. Keith was clearly unaware of the effect he had on women, something most guys would kill for. He definitely had it bad for Allura if the idea of other girls liking him had never even crossed his mind.

"Okay, that's both disturbing and strangely flattering," Keith finally decided. "I'm not sure if I ever wanted to know any of that." He sighed and relaxed his posture. "All right. Tell me about this girl."

_Yes! I am so good!_ Daniel mentally cheered, hoping that his expression hadn't changed.

"Well, other than the fact that she's super hot-"

"Wait, it's Larmina, isn't it?" Keith cut him off.

_Larmina?! What?!_

Daniel just stared at him, mouth hanging open.

"Of course it has to be Larmina," Keith continued sounding as he had put together a difficult puzzle. "She's the only girl around your own age here and since you don't leave the castle very much, there's really no one else it could be. I don't understand why you're asking advice on how to talk to her since you're already doing fine in that area. In fact, I was under the impression that the two of you have gotten pretty close. If you want to ask her out, just ask her out. It's that's simple, Daniel. You really didn't need me to tell you that."

Daniel found himself unable to speak.

Keith thought he _liked_ Larmina?

As in, like _liked_?

Oh, boy! This was _so_ bad!

"Though you may want to talk with Allura first to find out about formal Arusian dating protocols," Keith went on matter-of-factly. "As much as she hates to admit it, Larmina _is_ royalty and there are more than likely specific rules to be followed when going out in public with her on a date. Very strict rules that will have to be followed, Daniel. No exceptions."

If he hadn't been so stunned by Keith's accusation, this would have been the perfect chance for him to turn the tables on him. (How could he know about all that royal dating stuff unless he himself was dating an Arusian royal?) But Daniel could not get his brain or mouth to properly function. He was still too shocked.

What the heck had happened? Here he was thinking that he was going to have to push Keith to admit _anything_ and instead the man was giving _him_ real dating advice! It was too surreal.

He really had to get out of here!

"I'm surprised it's taken you this long to mention thinking of her as more than a teammate," Keith added. (The man who was not known for saying much that didn't have to do with defending the universe had turned into a chatterbox. Daniel was starting to wonder if he was actually dreaming. Or, better yet, had fallen into an alternate universe.) "You two have been pretty obvious for a while."

Obvious?! What was he talking about?

Daniel knew he had to say something and fast if he wanted to escape this conversation gone horribly wrong.

"So, you think she likes me too?" he asked in what he could only hope was a casual voice.

It was lame, but it was probably the only thing he could say without blowing his cover.

"I know she does, Daniel," Keith assured him and Daniel once again found himself unable to form words. "I've seen the way she looks at you. The attraction is definitely mutual."

_Larmina looks at me?_

He wasn't ashamed to admit that he'd checked her out himself once or twice (he'd thought she was pretty hot from the first time he'd seen her), but he'd never considered her anything but a friend and teammate.

Or had he?

Keith had him so confused that his mind continued to refuse to work.

How had this happened? His plan had been perfect! Where had he gone wrong?

_Snart! Snart! Snart!_

Larmina was _not_ going to be happy with him.

"Oh, wow, um, that's, um..." Daniel managed to get out.

He now had an image of Larmina checking him out stuck in his head. Had she really done that?

"You really had no idea, did you," Keith said with a smile.

"I didn't," Daniel honestly admitted. "Wow."

He'd never look at Larmina the same way again, that's for sure.

"Go talk to Allura," Keith encouraged. "She's going to be in her office most of the day, but she always makes herself available when someone needs to talk. She'll help you with this. Trust me."

Daniel knew that he had completely blown his mission and Keith was pretty much telling him to leave. He'd screwed up big time. It was beyond humiliating. (Larmina would _never_ let him live this down. Hopefully Vince would be more understanding. He'd thought this whole thing was a bad idea from the beginning. Daniel was beginning to think he'd been right.)

"Yeah, thanks for the talk," he said, resigned to his unexpected failure. "I'll go talk to Allura in a little while. I've got, uh, a few things to do first."

"Okay, Daniel. I'm glad I could help."

Daniel gave him the best fake smile he could muster and left the control room.

When he was sure he was far enough away that Keith couldn't hear, he raised his Voltcom to give Larmina the bad news.

Minus all the awkward parts about them liking each other, of course!

"Hey, Larmina..."

((()))

Keith shook his head as he watched Daniel walk away. He never thought he'd see the day that Daniel actually tried to think ahead instead of charging in blindly. It was a minor miracle and Larmina was the one he had to thank for it.

He hadn't exactly lied about Larmina liking Daniel. She'd told Allura on more than one occasion that she thought Daniel was cute (and sworn her to secrecy, of course), but nothing further than that. Larmina had her mind on things other than romance, such as her fighting techniques and her music, but Keith believed the grounds for a strong relationship between her and Daniel were already there. They had quickly become close friends and worked well as a team. Taking the friendship a step further could be very good for the both of them. As he knew from personal experience, a romance could be extremely beneficial... And it could be the key to turning Daniel into the strong leader Keith knew he had the potential to become.

Which was why he'd made up the lie about the dating etiquette. (He hadn't lied about their existence. They were very real. But they only applied to formal affairs such as balls and coronations.) Even though Daniel wouldn't follow orders as a Lion pilot, if he believed there were rules dictating his dating of Larmina (something he clearly wanted just as much as flying in Black if he had felt he needed help with it), he would have no choice but to follow them. Breaking any one of them could be grounds for Allura and himself to prevent the two of them from seeing each other outside of Voltron-related activities. (When he and Allura had secretly gotten married several months ago, Larmina had become his niece too, giving him as much rights in her guardianship as Allura had. He now had equal say in what she could and could not do.) If Daniel wanted to continue to court her, he had to obey every single rule he was given.

Keith stood up from his seat and headed out of the control room. He had to speak to Allura before Daniel did. His wife's cooperation was the key to making this entire strategy work. He knew she wasn't comfortable with lying, something she only did in a life or death situation, but once she understood the good it would do for both Larmina and Daniel, he was sure she'd go along with it.

Going to see her now also held the added advantage of getting to spend a few quiet minutes alone with her. Their duties kept them so busy sometimes that they barely got any time together away from the others. Her office was just secluded enough that the risk of them being caught was extremely low...

((()))

"Hey, Larmina!" came the voice through the Voltcom. "Are you there?"

_Huh? What?_

Larmina nearly jumped as the sound startled her from her daze. (How many times was it now that she'd zoned out? A million? Two? Could Aunt Allura be any more boring to spy on? Did the woman do _anything_ remotely interesting at any time during the day?)

"Larmina, come in already."

_Daniel,_ she identified the impatient voice.

"I'm here," she answered. "Sorry about that. I keep zoning out. This mission is a total snoozefest. Aunt Allura hasn't done _anything_ except work."

"Better to be bored than go though what I just did," Daniel told her. "I kind of blew it with Keith."

"You did what?! What happened? Did he catch you spying?"

This was so not good! Aunt Allura was devoting all her time to her paperwork and now they'd lost their only way of keeping track of Keith. At this rate, they'd never catch them in the act!

"I, uh, kind of went to talk to him," Daniel admitted sheepishly.

"You what?!"

"I, uh, thought it would get results faster if I drove him to Allura," Daniel told her. "It sort of backfired."

"Do I even want to know what you said to him?"

"What _I_ said? Larmina, I hardly got in a word edgewise!" Daniel defended himself. "I started to say one thing and he didn't even let me finish before taking over. He decided he knew what I had come to talk about and started spouting stuff left and right. Believe me when I tell you I've never heard the guy talk so much since I met him! It was kind of scary."

"Whoa," she commented, stunned. Keith was definitely not known for being a talker. He was more of a take action kind of guy. What had Daniel done to set him off? "What kind of stuff was he going on about?"

There was a brief pause before Daniel said, "Uh, Black Lion and leadership stuff. Why he doesn't think I'm ready to take over from him and things like that. I didn't even have a chance to hint that I know that something's going on between him and Allura."

"Wait? That was your big plan? To hint that you know something?"

That was pretty lame, even for Daniel. She had to hear how he thought that would have worked.

"Think about it. If he thinks that one of us knows something about him and Allura, what's he going to do? He's going to run right to Allura and let her know," Daniel explained. "I was trying to send him into _your_ trap, Larmina. Give a guy some credit!"

"Sorry," she apologized. Now that she'd heard the plan, it _did_ kind of make sense. Maybe Daniel was more ready to be a leader than she'd thought. "I guess it's still better than watching Aunt Allura read lots and lots of reports. Apparently, that's all you have to do to rule a planet these days. Go through a ton of paperwork! I'm so glad I'm not in direct line for the throne. I'd die of boredom. I don't know how she does it without going crazy."

"Probably years of practice," Daniel suggested. "Hey, maybe you should take a break. I don't think either of them are going to be going anywhere near each other for a while. They're both pretty busy."

"You're probably right," she agreed, glancing up at her aunt again. Allura was still reading her reports. "Aunt Allura's not likely to go anywhere until she gets through that pile on her desk. And Keith is even worse than she is about finishing a job. I doubt we're going to get our evidence until much later. Maybe not until right before dinner."

"So where do you want to meet?" Daniel asked.

"How about the kitchen? I'm starved! How about you?"

"I could go for some food," he said. "I'll check in with Vince and see if he wants to join us."

"Cool. I'll see you there. Larmina out."

She ended the connection and shot one last look into her aunt's office. As expected, the queen of boring was still doing the same thing she'd been doing for the last couple of hours, reading papers.

_Ugh,_ Larmina shuddered. _I'd rather go down in flames in my Lion than end up doing that._

With that cheerful thought, she quietly rose to her feet and stealthy made her way out of her hiding place and down the hall.

Hopefully she'd have better luck later.

((()))

"Was Larmina just here?"

Allura looked up to see Keith standing in her doorway.

"I haven't seen her all day," she told him, wondering why he was looking for her. Of the three teens, Larmina was the most responsible and got into trouble the least. (Daniel wasn't the greatest of influences on their niece, but Allura knew it could have been a lot worse.) She had taken well to her new role as Blue Lion pilot. She was a good fit for the Voltron Force. "Why?"

"I just saw her leaving the area," he informed her, closing the door behind him as he fully entered her office. (It was his signal that he had come to her for more than just Voltron business, which sent waves of happiness through her. Any private time she got to spend with her husband...) "I just assumed that she had come to visit you. You're the only one who has an office down here."

She stood up and moved around her desk and met Keith as he came towards her. He took her into his arms for a brief hug and then moved his hands to her waist, allowing her to move slightly away from him so they could talk face to face.

"She never came in," she let him know. "Which can only mean one thing: that she's up to something involving Daniel, Vince, and no good."

He leaned in and gave her a quick kiss. "Something's definitely up, but it's not anything Daniel would want her knowing about yet. If she was here, it was because she was sent to get her out of the way for a while," he told her. Before she could ask him to explain, he added, "Daniel paid me a visit just now to ask for my advice on how to ask her out."

Allura's mouth dropped open. "You mean-?"

Keith smiled at her. "Daniel's finally realized that he has feelings for her."

"Oh, Keith! That's so wonderful!" she breathed, returning his smile. "It's about time one of them figured it out. Now all we need to do is to get Larmina to admit that she feels the same way."

And there was no question that she did. The fact that she'd repeatedly mentioned how cute she thought Daniel was, something she had never said about any other boy, spoke volumes. She also spent a great deal of time with him, more than she did with Vince, who she also got along with but not in the same way as she did with Daniel. Larmina really _liked_ Daniel.

"You know that won't be easy, my love," he reminded her. "Larmina won't admit to anything that she perceives as being a sign of weakness. And liking a boy isn't exactly what she'd consider a warrior trait."

Allura laughed. "Sometimes I can't understand that girl. I don't know what she finds so terrible about admitting that there's more to her than just her warrior persona. It's not like there's anyone here who would hold having a softer side against her. She's well-liked by all of us.

"But there's no doubt in my mind how she feels about Daniel," she asserted. "I don't believe she can keep denying something like that to herself forever. Look at us. We tried so hard for so long to hide our feelings from each other, but in the end, we couldn't fight our love. We were destined to be together. Perhaps they are too."

She had loved Keith from almost the moment she had first seen him. Something had changed in her the instant their eyes met. And when he had knelt before her and kissed her hand, pledging his loyalty... He had told her that it was the same for him. But they had fought their feelings for so long because of what they had convinced themselves were valid reasons. She because she doubted he could ever feel the same way about her and Keith because he believed that he was beneath her and didn't want to keep her from her destiny of becoming queen.

They had only spoken of their mutual feelings once during the war with Zarkon and that had been through an act of desperation on Allura's part. But Keith had insisted that nothing could become of what they had shared for her sake. He had not wanted to be the one obstacle preventing her from ascending the throne. (It would not be until years later that she learned she did not have to be married to become queen.) She had reluctantly agreed and it was never mentioned again.

Then, after the victory celebration disaster, had come their five year separation. Five long miserable and lonely years... Every day had been a torment for her, knowing that he was out there but that she couldn't contact him in order to not compromise his mission. There were some days she hadn't even wanted to get out of bed. In some ways, losing Keith had been as bad as losing her parents.

But then he had miraculously come back to her and Allura had realized that she could no longer live without him. She needed his love to survive. He completed her. And when he had told her that he felt the same way... (It had taken her revelation that she didn't have to marry a prince to ultimately convince him to surrender to his feelings.) She knew nothing could ever separate them again. They were as one, now and forever. (Their marriage had only made it official.)

"Maybe," he said, removing one of his hands from her waist and bringing it up to the collar of her uniform. Reaching inside, he hooked his fingers around the thin chain she wore around her neck and pulled it out, exposing their two wedding bands which dangled from the end. He held the rings up in the palm of his hand. "If they are, I don't want them to make the same mistake we did," he continued, becoming serious. "You have no idea how much I regret not following my heart years ago."

"You thought you were doing the right thing," she gently reminded him, enveloping his hand and the symbols of their love with both of hers. "No one can fault you for that, Keith. You were only trying to do what you thought was best for me. I'm the one who made the mistake. I should have told you how I felt as soon as I realized how much I loved you. But I was so afraid. Afraid of what would happen if I told you and you didn't feel the same way. And then I stayed silent after you knew because you had made it clear that didn't want me giving up everything for you. I know now that I was wrong to do that. I should have told you how much _you_ mean to me. You're everything I've ever wanted or needed. Your love means more to me than anything in the universe, including being queen. I love you so much."

"And I love you, my queen," he murmured before closing the gap between them and kissing her deeply, their hands still clasped over the rings.

The kiss was as all-consuming and soul-searing as all of his kisses were. As it always happened when he kissed her, Allura felt her world narrow to just the two of them. Nothing else existed beyond the kiss. Everything else fell away, leaving nothing but their love.

Their hands fell away from the rings and Keith's newly-free hand went to the center of her back. He pulled her closer to his body, holding her tightly against him.

Her body sprung to life at the full contact. There was nothing that could compare to her husband's touch. She could stay where she was forever.

Then, after too short a time, he ended the kiss.

They remained close together, his forehead resting on hers. They stood in a comfortable silence, their breathing the only sound in the room.

"I need your help with Daniel and Larmina," he softly spoke after several moments. "I told Daniel that he needs to speak with you before he can approach her."

"Why would you tell him that?" she wanted to know, wondering why he would send Daniel to her as if she was some kind of expert. She knew absolutely nothing about dating. Keith was the only man she'd ever been with and their relationship had been anything but conventional. The closest they'd ever come to a date was when they'd snuck away to get married. "I'll talk to him, of course, but what am I supposed to say to him? I probably know less than he does."

"I want you to explain Arusian royal dating etiquette to him," Keith informed her matter-of-factly.

She looked at him in surprise and confusion.

"Royal dating etiquette? Why would Daniel need to know that? That only applies to-"

"Formal affairs," he finished for her. "We both know that, but Daniel doesn't and that's the entire point."

"I don't understand."

Keith wasn't making any sense. While Larmina was royalty, she wasn't in the direct line to the throne of Arus. None of the rules that applied to the heirs affected her.

"What are the biggest problems holding Daniel back? His impatience and his inability to follow orders," Keith explained. "Unless he conquers both of those, he'll never be ready to take over Black from me. It occurred to me that forcing him to follow the etiquette while courting Larmina will accomplish two things at once: it will teach him patience and obedience as well as move their relationship along. It's a win-win situation for all of us."

"I don't know, Keith," she said, feeling uncomfortable with the idea of tricking Daniel like that. She didn't see how it would do any of the things he hoped it would. "The etiquette is so strict and exact. Larmina isn't going to like being treated that way. And I can see Daniel getting very frustrated very fast, especially if he sees that she's unhappy. I don't think it's a good idea."

"Does Larmina know the etiquette?" Keith asked her.

"No," she admitted, shaking her head. "Coran, Nanny, and I never saw the need to teach her during the war. And then as she got older and showed no interest in any royal activities, we saw no point in telling her. Besides, it's very unlikely that we'll be holding any balls in the near future. Not with our enemies still out there."

"Lotor and Wade," Keith spoke, identifying the two worst threats.

She couldn't help but shudder at Lotor's name. Although he had seemed to have lost interest in her since his return, in the back of her mind she was terrified that he was waiting for just the right moment to come after her again. His last near success had come as an afterthought, only seeing her as a caretaker for Sven's son. She feared what would happen when he was focused on taking her.

"He'll never take you from me," Keith soothed as if reading her mind. He always seemed to know what was troubling his wife. He pulled her tightly against him and begin to stroke her back. "I'll always be here to protect you. You have my word."

"I know I do," she said, smiling weakly. She'd lost count of the number of times in the past Keith had put his life on the line to save her from the prince of Doom. She'd never forget how once he'd nearly died...

She felt him kiss the top of her head.

"Look, I can see how this whole idea of using the etiquette this way is upsetting you, so forget I said anything, all right?" he told her. "Nothing is worth your unhappiness. I'll find another way to knock some sense into Daniel. When he comes, just tell him I was mistaken."

She moved away from him and looked up at his face. "I'm sorry I ruined your plan," she apologized.

She truly felt bad for saying no to him, but she couldn't in good conscience put Daniel and Larmina through that kind of torture. Too many feelings would end up being hurt.

Keith leaned in and kissed her. "You have nothing to apologize for," he assured her. He gave her a smile. "It was just an idea, to which I clearly didn't give enough thought. You saw the flaws I didn't. I'm glad you did."

She knew Keith was lying about being all right with her rejection of his idea. He would never have brought this to her without having given it a great deal of consideration first. Her husband was not an impulsive person. He planned everything down to the last detail. He would not be happy with himself for presenting her with a flawed plan.

"What if I...made something up to tell Daniel?" she offered as a compromise. She hated it when he was unhappy. If he thought giving Daniel some rules for dating Larmina would help him become ready to take over Black, she would give him some rules. (Just nothing that would cause Larmina to kill him for even suggesting them.) "I could tell him little things he would have to do that wouldn't overwhelm Larmina. He'd still have to follow everything to the letter, but she wouldn't know he was doing anything but showing her a good time."

It was still his plan, but with one important modification.

"Like what?" Keith encouraged.

"Um, like which flowers to bring her depending on the month or even the day," she elaborated. "Or what kind of cuisine they had to eat on a date for the same reasons. Any of these would force Daniel to plan well in advance of each date he takes her on."

Keith nodded as he appeared to digest her idea.

"I like it," he said after only a few moments. "I think it could work very well."

"You do?" she brightened.

"I do, my love," he confirmed. "You took my very rough idea and improved it." He gave her another light kiss. "I should probably get going now. I don't want Daniel finding me here."

"Do you want me to come tonight?" she asked.

It was a routine they had established soon after they had stopped denying their love. Several times a week, in the early morning hours, Allura would come to his quarters so they could spend time together. It was the only place they could truly be a couple without fear of discovery. (As isolated as her office was, it still wasn't completely safe for them. Every visit where they let their guard down for even a moment was a risk.) Most of the time, they would just talk freely while openly expressing their shared affection. Sometimes, they simply slept wrapped in each other's arms, taking comfort in each other's presence. Kissing was always an important part of being together, but any sort of sexual intimacy, which never went beyond mutual touching and exploration, was a rare occurrence. As much as they both wanted a family, neither of them wanted to bring children into the world until they knew there would be peace. (They had only completely made love once and that had been on their wedding night. They had taken every precaution to prevent conception.) They put their lives on the line with every battle. It would not be fair to any children they had for both of them to always be at risk. They would wait until the time was right.

"You know you never have to ask," he reminded her. "If it were possible, I'd be with you every night, all night."

"One day," she vowed. "I hate that it has to be this way."

"Only for now," he promised her. He caressed her cheek. "I love you so much."

"I love you too," she responded.

Their gazes locked.

"Keith..." she breathed.

He kissed her again, deeply and passionately, and she was once more lost in a world that only consisted of the two of them.

When he ended it, after they had both calmed their breathing, he whispered, "I need to go before I can't."

She nodded, knowing exactly what he meant. Her body was already on fire. She could only imagine that he felt the same way.

"Until tonight, my queen," he softly said as he loosened his hold on her.

Reluctantly, she moved out of his arms. As she backed away, she replaced her necklace under her collar. The time for being husband and wife was over for the moment. They were back to simply being teammates and friends.

"Where are you headed from here?" she asked as she returned to her seat behind her desk.

"I thought I'd check in with Pidge and Hunk about the status of the lions and castle defenses," he informed her as he moved to the door. "Things have been a little too quiet lately. I want to make sure we're ready for any surprises from our enemies."

She nodded. "Good idea. We can't let them catch us unprepared."

"They won't," he assured her as he opened the door. "I'll see you later."

"You too."

And then he was gone.

She spent a few moments watching the space where he had been.

She missed him already.

Laying a hand over where their rings were safely hidden beneath her uniform, she turned her attention back to her endless paperwork.

A queen's work was never done.

((()))

There was something really bizarre going on with Daniel, Larmina decided as she walked back towards Aunt Allura's office.

It had been the weirdest thing. For the majority of the time she'd been together with him and Vince just now, she'd caught him staring at her every time she'd turned around. Not looking. _Staring._ As in his eyes never left her for a second until she said something. And when she'd asked him what he was looking at, he'd denied he'd been looking at anything. As if he expected her to believe him when she'd caught him looking directly at her! Repeatedly! What was up with that?

And then there was the fact that he'd been really evasive about the exact things Keith had said to him. Daniel _always_ told her and Vince everything. (Okay, so he usually told _Vince_ first and then they'd both let her in on whatever it was later, but that was beside the point!) What was so special about this leadership advice that he didn't want to share? It wasn't like Daniel to keep anything to himself, especially if it concerned his future on the Voltron Force. The three of them were a team, after all.

The whole thing was just strange. She didn't know what to make of it. Obviously, something had happened during his conversation with Keith. Something that had resulted in this majorly odd behavior. (The staring was beyond creepy and had to go!) Maybe he just needed a good smack upside the head to set him straight.

Thank goodness for the distraction created by Vince's wimpiness. Once Vince had 'fessed up to not having spoken to Lance yet, Daniel had forgotten all about watching her and turned his attention to his soon-to-be-ex best friend. Lance had become their last possible source of information. (Daniel had blown it with Keith and Aunt Allura was having too much fun with her mountain of paperwork to visit with her suspected boyfriend.) Without his insight, there was no hope of having their plan succeed. If they missed their opportunity to get to him because Vince was too much of a scaredy cat to talk to him, they could kiss their blackmail dreams goodbye.

Watching Daniel bodily drag Vince out of the Lair had been priceless. She had been sorely tempted to take out her digipix.

Larmina arrived at the hallway that led to Aunt Allura's office. Once again she employed her stealth ninja skills and returned to her hiding place behind the gigantic plant. After she settled comfortably in, she turned her attention to her aunt.

Who was, to Larmina's utter confusion, smiling dreamily to herself while reading yet another report.

_Huh?_

Okay, it was now official. Not only was the queen super boring, but she super weird too. Reports made the woman happy! (She'd been joking when she'd told Daniel and Vince that the queen was having a good time doing her busy work. How could she have known that it was actually the truth? How freaky was that?) Aunt Allura had clearly been born for this whole planetary ruler thing. She enjoyed every boring aspect of it!

Yet again Larmina thanked her lucky stars and every god in the universe that she was not directly in line for the throne. Aunt Allura could have it! The thought of ever having to do anything like that made her shudder.

She pressed a button on her Voltcom and the time was projected above her wrist. There was another hour to go before dinner.

_Another hour of trying not to fall asleep,_ she mentally sighed.

Maybe she'd get lucky and Keith would come pay his girlfriend a visit right before dinner. After all, they had come into the dining room at the same time on many occasions. Why couldn't today be one of those days? (They had to meet up somewhere first, right? And what place was more perfect than the queen's office? It was private and secluded. Just right for a quick make-out session before joining the others.)

Larmina pulled her digipix out of the small pack she'd attached to her belt, turned it on, and placed it in her lap. She was now ready to capture the picture that would make her, Daniel, and Vince's future completely perfect.

Now all that had to happen was for Keith to make his big appearance.

She could only hope it would be before she fell asleep again.

((()))

"Don't make me have to push you," Daniel warned as he and Vince stood outside of the training room where they knew Lance was inside. "Get in there and find out what he knows."

_How am I ever going to get out of this one?_ Vince wondered unhappily to himself.

Daniel literally had him trapped. He had no choice but to go through with the original plan of questioning Lance about Keith and Allura's relationship. (He had a feeling that Daniel would be monitoring the whole conversation through their mind link. He'd never get away with deviating from his assignment. Daniel would kill him.) As far as he could tell, there was no escape.

And it was his own fault too. If only he'd kept his big mouth shut! Why had he stupidly admitted to Daniel and Larmina that he hadn't spoken to Lance yet? All he had to have done was make up something about the conversation coming up empty. But, no, he had to be honest! Talk about being a snartbrain!

It's not like he had purposely avoided talking to Lance. He hadn't. In fact, he'd had every intention of getting the conversation over with after his disastrous encounter with Pidge and Hunk had ended. (He'd thought, "why prolong the agony?") He'd even gone as far as tracking him down. Then, as now, he had been in the training room. But the moment Vince had seen Lance's two guns blasting away non-stop at the numerous moving targets, he'd instantly decided against engaging him in a conversation right then.

It was generally not a good idea to start a potentially explosive topic of conversation with someone holding weapons. Especially if that someone was not afraid to use them.

Even more important, Lance would question everything Vince said to him. He wouldn't make assumptions the way Pidge and Hunk had. His being vague about what he needed help with wouldn't fly with Lance. He'd either have to confess everything, earning Daniel and Larmina's wrath for the remainder of his natural life, not to mention the trouble he'd be in for spying in the first place, or lie. And lying was not one of his stronger talents. (To be honest, he was terrible at it!)

Rather than face having to choose between two equally bad evils, Vince had made the only decision he could: retreat!

That had been two hours ago.

Now, thanks to his own big mouth, he was faced with something much worse: trying to find out what Lance knew about Keith and Allura.

"You know I'm not any good at this kind of thing. Remember, I'm a science nerd," Vince tried protesting one last time. "We tend to be painfully honest."

"Man, will you just relax already?" Daniel waved him off. "You've got nothing to worry about. I've got your back. I'll be listening the whole time. If you get stuck, I'll tell you what to say."

_I'm officially a dead man._

"Why can't you just go in there and ask him yourself?" Vince wanted to know. "You two get along great."

"Because he'll be suspicious that I want something from him from the second he sees me," Daniel informed him. "You, on the other hand, are such a goody-two-shoes that he'll never see you coming until it's too late. Then you'll have him exactly where you want him."

"And where exactly do I want him?" Vince questioned, dreading the answer.

"Dude, you're thinking too much," Daniel brushed him off. "All you have to do is find a place in the conversation where you can ask him if he thinks Keith and Allura have a thing going on. If he out and out denies that there's even a chance of it, he's in on it. Any other answer and he's as much in the dark as we are. Once you've gotten that out of him, you're done."

"Um, just what exactly am I supposed to talk to him about that will lead up to asking him about something like that?" Vince wanted to know. "You really think that 'Hey, Lance, how's it going? By the way, do you think Keith and Allura are dating?' is going to work?"

"Hey, you'll never know until you try," Daniel quipped as he hit the door release and it slid open. "Good luck!"

With that, he shoved Vince into the training room.

"Daniel!" Vince shouted as the door closed in his face.

Groaning, he turned his attention into the main training area.

Lance was sparring with the Lotor hologram, unaware that he was no longer alone.

_I hate my life,_ Vince decided.

_No you don't,_ Daniel chimed in. _It's got me in it and you know you love me._

_Only when you're not being a total snartface,_ Vince clarified for him as he watched Lance do to the holographic Lotor what they all longed to do to the real one. (The guy was like a roach. No matter how many times they seemed to destroy him, he kept coming back.)

_Cute,_ Daniel retorted. _Now get to work._

As if on cue, Lance slammed the hologram into the floor. It vanished on contact.

_You and Larmina owe me big time for this one,_ Vince informed him as Lance stood up and noticed that he had an audience.

_Sure, sure. Whatever you say,_ Daniel replied.

"Hey, there, newbie," Lance greeted him. "Here to do some training?"

_What do I say?_ Vince demanded on Daniel. Strangely, he wasn't feeling all that nervous, which was highly unusual for him. (Most likely because he was too busy being annoyed at Daniel for making him do this!) _He'll probably leave if I say yes._

_Hello? Tell him you want to talk to him!_ Daniel instructed.

"Um, Arus to Vince," Lance spoke up when he didn't get an immediate response. "You're looking a little spaced out there, kiddo."

"Oh, sorry," Vince apologized. "I've got a lot on my mind today."

_Ooh, nice save,_ Daniel sarcastically commented.

_Not helping!_

"I, uh, actually came to talk to you," he finally managed to say.

Lance folded his arms. "Oh, really? Let me guess. This is about Daniel."

_What? Why would he think that?_ Daniel sounded genuinely surprised.

_Probably for the same reasons Pidge and Hunk did,_ Vince matter-of-factly informed him, getting an idea. _I might as well go with it!_

_Don't you dare!_

"Yes, yes it is," Vince told him, reveling in the idea of a little payback. If he was going to have to go through with this uncomfortable conversation, he might as well make Daniel squirm at the same time.

After all, it was only fair.

"I thought as much," Lance said, shaking his head. "Okay, I'm going to save us both a lot of time and just give you my answer: no."

"No?" Vince echoed, completely lost. What did Lance think he was going to ask him about? And how did Daniel figure in to it?

"Look, I know you mean well, but we both know Daniel's heart is set on Black," Lance went on.

_Are you kidding me?_ Daniel interjected, laughing. _Does he seriously think-?_

_Shh!_ Vince hushed him. _I'm trying to listen here._

"...As well as he pilots Red, he'd never be happy if he permanently replaced me," Lance was saying. "Besides, I don't plan on retiring any time soon if I can help it. I'm not going anywhere unless I have no choice. Now Keith on the other hand..."

_Oh, snart!_

Vince could not believe his incredibly bad luck. Lance had just literally given him the opening he needed. This was not good!

"Lately I've been getting the feeling that Allura has some plans for his future that don't involve him leading the Voltron Force forever," Lance continued, completely unaware that he was walking right into Daniel's trap.

_Dude!_ Daniel cheered. _This is it! This is-_

He suddenly fell silent.

_Daniel?_ Vince sent, instantly concerned.

It wasn't like Daniel to get so quiet. Something had to be wrong.

_Oh, crap! I gotta go! Meet you back at the Lair after you're done._

_Daniel? What?_

_I'll explain when you get there. Later!_

_Uh, okay._

"Vince? Are you even listening to me?" Lance spoke up, sounding annoyed.

Vince turned his attention back to Lance.

"Of course, I-"

He was cut off when the training room door opened and Keith walked in.

_Oh, this is just great,_ Vince groaned. This was turning into a disaster of proportions so epic that it broke the scale. _And just when I didn't think this day could get any worse._

He briefly wondered if Keith's arrival was what had made Daniel leave so suddenly. Could it have something to do with their conversation from this morning? Daniel has been strangely evasive about what had gone on between them, which was not like him at all. Clearly, something _had_ been said and for some reason, Daniel didn't want either him or Larmina knowing what it was. (Too bad he didn't know how to use their telepathic link to dig into his mind. That would solve the mystery in a few seconds flat.)

The only bright side was that he couldn't ask Lance about Keith's relationship with Allura anymore. Not with the commander in the room with them! (That would be just like asking to be kicked off the Force!)

"Hey, Keith," Lance greeted him. "Vince and I were just discussing Daniel's future as the Black Lion pilot."

"Oh, really?" Keith said, coming to join them. "What about it?"

"Vince here thought that maybe I should give him Red instead," Lance informed him. "I told him no. I reminded him how much Black means to Daniel."

"This didn't by any chance happen to be Daniel's idea, did it?" Keith asked, turning to look directly at Vince.

"Uh, no," he was able to honestly answer. (He would have never thought of it if Lance hadn't made his assumption first. He had just gone along with it to keep the conversation going.) "Why?"

"No reason," Keith waved him off. "I was just curious. By the way, when was the last time you saw him?"

Oh, something had definitely happened between the two of them all right if Keith wanted to know where Daniel was. (It couldn't have been anything too bad since Daniel hadn't actually seemed upset and Keith clearly wasn't angry.) He was definitely going to have to force the whole story out of him later. Not knowing what happened was going to drive him crazy.

"Not too long ago," Vince told him, which was the truth. He had just left out the part about it being less than five minutes ago. (An omission was not the same thing as a lie.)

"Did he mention anything about going to speak with Allura?"

"Uh-uh," Vince let him know, now dying to find out what happened between the two of them. What had Daniel done this time? Why was he being sent to talk to the queen?

"Is there something going on that I need to know about?" Lance interjected into the conversation.

Keith turned his attention back to him. "It's actually why I came to talk to you.

"In private," he added, looking pointedly at Vince.

_Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!_ Vince happily thought, grateful to the universe for giving him the perfect escape. Both his life and his future had just been saved.

"Vince, if you don't mind?" Keith prompted.

"Oh, of course not," he answered, trying not to sound too relieved. "I'll see you both later."

In a repeat of his exit from the repair bay, he walked away from the two men as casually as he could. (Thankfully, he was much closer to the door in here than he'd been in there!) In less than one minute, he was out the door.

"Hallelujah," he murmured to himself as soon as the door slid shut behind him.

It was finally over. Not only had they run out of people to question (thank goodness that Coran was still on Earth at Alliance headquarters), but the time they had decided on was almost up. Larmina and Daniel's scheme had failed and Keith and Allura's secret had remained a secret. The day hadn't been a complete and utter disaster after all.

Now it was time to go meet up with the two of them in the Lair so he could tell them the "bad" news.

And to find out once and for all what had happened between Daniel and Keith.

Buoyed by his immense relief, Vince started walking towards the catacomb entrance.

((()))

"Okay, Commander. The rookie's gone. Let's hear it," Lance demanded of Keith. "What's going on with Danny boy?"

"Daniel paid me a visit this morning looking for dating advice," Keith informed him.

Lance's eyes widened. "Dating advice? You?" He snorted. "You have got to be kidding me."

Keith couldn't even get his own love life together. The man had a _queen_ of all people madly in love with him who he clearly loved back and he had yet to make a move after all these years. How could Daniel even think he could help him?

"Hey, I didn't believe it at first either, but he was completely serious," Keith went on. "I tried to get him to talk to you instead, but for some reason he thought your advice would not be appropriate for this girl."

"And just who is this girl he wants to date? Larmina?"

"Yes."

Lance stared at him in disbelief. He'd only said her name as a joke. Daniel and Larmina as a _couple_? He couldn't see it.

"Are you serious? He actually wants to date Larmina?"

"Why are you so surprised?" Keith wanted to know. "Don't tell me you haven't noticed the way they are with each other."

_Like two other people I know?_ Lance thought to himself.

Keith and Allura were ten times worse than Daniel and Larmina. _Everyone_ knew that they were in love with each other. (During their five year separation, he'd experienced Allura's misery first-hand every time he'd returned to Arus and he'd heard the pain and longing in Keith's voice when he asked about her at the end of each one of their brief communications.) Why they hadn't told each other yet was a mystery to him. (In his opinion, they both needed a swift kick in the behind. Hell, he'd been tempted on more than one occasion to lock them together in a room himself and tell them that they wouldn't be freed until they admitted how they felt to each other. The punishment Keith would have given him would have been so worth it.)

And an even bigger mystery was why they both kept denying that there was anything between them. Anyone with eyes could see how they felt about each other. He could guess Keith's reasons had something to do with Allura's royal status and, until recently, her being a member of the Voltron Force, but Allura's? She was the ruler of an entire planet! She could have any man she wanted and no one could stop her. So why did she keep pretending that she wasn't in love with Keith?

Thankfully, as he'd told Vince, he had a feeling that that was all about to change. Allura seemed to be getting ready to _finally_ admit her feelings to Keith. By resigning from the Voltron Force, she had effectively removed herself from his chain of command. He was no longer her commanding officer, a line that Lance knew a by-the-book leader like Keith would never cross. He hoped that she'd make her move sooner rather than later. All he could say was that it was about time that _one_ of them did something.

"Of course I've noticed," he answered Keith. "They're teenagers. 'Subtle' isn't a part of their vocabulary. They couldn't be less obvious if they tried. But Daniel actually wanting to date her? I always thought it was nothing more than a crush on both sides."

"It's definitely more than that for Daniel," Keith said. "He was completely serious when he came to me. I've never seen him so nervous before."

"Daniel? Nervous? That's hard to imagine. That kid can be cockier than I am."

"Exactly," Keith replied. "That's how I knew he wasn't playing some kind of game. This is very important to him."

"Um, wow," Lance commented, truly surprised. "I can honestly say I never thought he'd be that interested in something other than becoming Black's pilot."

"Which is why I was suspicious of Vince's motives for suggesting Daniel take Red instead," Keith explained. "I was wondering if Daniel had sent him here to keep him busy the same way I suspect he sent Larmina to the administrative wing. I don't think he wants either of them knowing about his interest before he's ready."

"It's possible, but I got the feeling that Vince came here on his own," Lance told him. "I know he's been worried about Daniel since he's the only one who's still a cadet. And since he knows you aren't ready to step down and Daniel has never shown any interest in Yellow, he probably thought I was the best candidate to ask. I have to say it's pretty flattering."

"Yet you still told him no," Keith pointed out.

"Of course," Lance grinned. "You can't get rid of me that easily, Commander. I plan on flying Red until I get kicked off the Force or die. Whichever comes first."

Keith shook his head. "Why don't I have any trouble believing that? All right. Moving on. The reason I've come to talk to you is that after I finished speaking with Daniel, I came up with a plan to use his dating of Larmina as a teaching tool. If he ever hopes to one day lead the Voltron Force, he needs to learn patience and discipline. Allura's already agreed to help. I knew you'd want in too once I told you about it."

"You know me so well," Lance smiled. "Tell me more."

"All right. Have you ever heard of the Arusian royal dating etiquette?"

"Can't say that I have," Lance informed him, his curiosity piqued. "What is it?"

"A very strict set of rules that heirs to the Arusian throne and any candidates for their hand in marriage must follow at formal affairs," Keith explained. "Any deviation from these rules would be used by the parents or guardians of the heirs to put an end to the courtship. Allura told me that Larmina was never taught about them and Daniel, of course, would have no way knowing that they existed. My idea is to use Daniel and Larmina's ignorance of the etiquette to our advantage and make them follow a set of rules that Allura, you, and I will come up with. Daniel will have no choice but to follow them to the letter if he wants to take Larmina out anywhere."

"I like it," Lance said with a smile. "It's just evil enough to work."

If Daniel was as serious about Larmina as Keith thought he was, he'd have to do exactly what they told him. It was actually brilliant.

"I'm so glad you approve," Keith sarcastically shot back, but he was smiling too. "I told Daniel that he needed to speak with Allura before he approaches Larmina. She'll set the ground rules for the initial date. I only felt that was fair since Larmina is her niece. The rest will be a team effort."

"Hey, as long as it works, she can do whatever she wants," Lance told him. "Just give me part of the credit for its success and we're good."

"Share in the glory but none of the work?" Keith asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Exactly," Lance confirmed. "By the way, how is it that you know about the Arusian royal dating etiquette anyway?"

Although he had an ulterior motive for asking it (anything to see if he could get Keith to even _hint_ about his feelings for Allura), he actually did want to know. It was a strange piece of knowledge for the leader of the Voltron Force to have. In fact, he doubted most non-royal Arusians knew about it themselves.

"I read about it," Keith matter-of-factly answered without a hint of emotion. "I've been doing a lot of research on Arusian history and culture ever since I found out my family originated here. The Knights of Arus were part of the nobility and interacted with the royal families on a regular basis. The etiquette would have affected them as well."

"That makes sense," Lance admitted. He wondered if it had crossed Keith's mind that since he _was_ a descendant of the Knights it meant that he was a noble himself and therefore eligible to "interact" with the royal family.

The queen, in particular.

"How else did you think I would know about it?" Keith wanted to know. "It's not exactly something that would come up in a casual conversation."

"Well, you and Allura do spend a lot of time talking together," Lance pointed out, seeing an opportunity to probe into his personal life. "There's no telling the kind of things you discuss."

Keith folded his arms. "Just exactly what are you implying, Lance?"

Lance copied the gesture. "You tell me what you think I'm implying."

It would be _very_ interesting to hear Keith's answer.

"The queen and I are just friends," Keith stated firmly. "That's all."

_Gotcha!_ Lance thought triumphantly. Keith had walked straight into that one on his own. Without any prompting on his part, Keith's mind had immediately jumped to the conclusion that he was speaking about his feelings for Allura. There was no clearer confirmation of his suspicions than that.

"And I suppose that's all you'll ever be? Even after you step down from the Force?"

Lance knew he was pushing it, but he wanted to see how much he could get Keith to actually admit. This is the closest he'd ever come to voicing his love for Allura.

"Let me put it this way," Keith said, clearly determined to keep his feelings hidden. "If anything ever happens between Allura and myself and I'm not saying that anything will, it would be no one's business but our own until we decided to share it with anyone else. Got it?"

"So you're saying something could?" Lance pressed.

He knew he had probably gone too far at this point, but he couldn't help himself. He'd waited too many years to hear one of them actually say _something._

"If it did, you'd be the last to know," Keith promised. "We couldn't trust you to keep it to yourself."

"We." Keith had said "we". And not as in a future "we," but as if they had already discussed the scenario in the present. Did that mean...?

"Now, if you're through trying to find out about my love life, I have duties I need to get back to," Keith continued, effectively shutting down the line of inquiry. "The three of us will meet to discuss our course of action later this evening. We need to give Daniel enough time to seek Allura out."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Lance accepted, amazed he'd gotten as much out of Keith as he had, including what could only be interpreted as a confirmation that there actually _was_ something going on between them. "I'll see you later then."

"Later," Keith returned and then headed out of the training room.

Once he was sure he was gone, he said, "Wow."

"We couldn't trust you," Keith had said, meaning both Allura and himself. As if they were already a couple.

There was no way... Or could there be? Could they have already gotten together without anyone noticing? Was that even possible?

Deciding he was going to have to pay much closer attention to the two of them while they schemed against Daniel and Larmina, Lance reactivated the Lotor hologram for another round of combat.

((()))

Vince struggled to keep from smiling as he pretended to commiserate with Daniel and Larmina over the failure of their "perfect" plan. All that mattered was that Keith and Allura's secret was still safe. No amount of moaning and groaning could change that.

"I just don't get it," Larmina repeated for the umpteenth time as the three of them sat in the Lair. They now had about twenty minutes before they were due for dinner. "It should have worked perfectly. Where did we go wrong?"

"It wasn't our fault," Vince offered, happily playing along now that the danger was over. "They were the ones who kept thinking everything was about Daniel."

Which was entirely true. Lance, Pidge, and Hunk had all been convinced his visit had been prompted by something Daniel had done. (Though that hadn't stopped the entirely too close call with Lance. Only Keith's timely arrival had saved the day.) And from the little he had gleaned from Daniel about his encounter with Keith, that conversation had centered on him as well.

"What was up with that anyway?" Daniel wanted to know. "I know I've gotten into trouble a few times, but, man, they were acting like all I do is go look for it!"

"'A few times'?" Vince echoed. "Dude, all you _do_ is get into trouble! Every time you have an idea, it leads to trouble! When have you _not_ gotten into trouble?"

"He's got a point, Daniel," Larmina chimed in. "You have a knack for getting into the worst kinds of situations. I mean, how many times have you single-handedly gotten us captured, nearly killed, or both?"

"All right, all right! Enough already!" Daniel protested. "With friends like the two of you...!"

Vince grinned, enjoying himself. He hated to admit it, but he was still feeling pretty vengeful towards Daniel for what had happened back at the training room. He was not yet ready to forgive him for pushing him in there and slamming the door in his face. That had been low even for Daniel.

"What I really don't get is why Keith and Aunt Allura never got together the entire afternoon," Larmina changed the subject. "Of all days for them to not see each other! Aunt Allura never left her nice quiet and secluded office for one second. It was the perfect opportunity for them to get some one-on-one time. They could have made out for hours!"

Vince had a suspicion that the reason Keith had not visited Allura was related to his mysterious conversation with Daniel. Whatever it was, he had gone to talk with Lance about it. (Although he didn't know what had happened yet, he was just thankful it had kept Keith and Allura apart!)

"Well, we'll just have to take a different approach when we try again tomorrow," Daniel decided. "We'll have to be more proactive in pushing the two of them together."

Vince felt his brief happiness drain away at the thought of having to go through today's nightmare all over again. Keith and Allura's secret had stayed hidden this time, but what if they weren't so lucky the next? Lance had had no problem bringing up his thoughts on their relationship himself without any prompting. And if Daniel decided to be the one to do the questioning himself...

"Ooh!" Larmina said, sounding predictably excited about Daniel's idea. It was her fault that any of this insanity had taken place in the first place. She'd started the whole mess. "What do you have in mind?"

Daniel grinned evilly. "Why not instead of waiting for Keith and Allura to walk into our trap, we make them go exactly where _we_ want them?" he proposed. "And to do that we make them think it was their own idea."

_Oh, for crying out loud!_ Vince silently groaned. This plan was even crazier than Larmina's!

"Cool idea!" Larmina decided. "But, um, exactly how are we supposed to do that? Plant notes?"

"Notes? Seriously?" Vince spoke up, unable to stay silent at the sheer ridiculousness of what she was suggesting. "You really think Keith and Allura would do that for each other? If this supposed relationship is really going on, would either of them be careless enough to leave any possible evidence?"

To be honest, he had a feeling that they rarely if ever spent any romantic time together outside of either of their quarters. Keith was too smart to put either himself or Allura in any situation where they could possibly be caught. They probably planned all of their rendezvous ahead of time. Neither would trust a love note supposedly left for them by the other. All it would accomplish would be to raise red flags in their minds.

"Okay, Mr.-I'm-So-Smart, what would you suggest we do?" Daniel challenged him. "We're all ears."

"You know I've been against this whole thing from the beginning," Vince reminded them. "I say we should just quit while we're ahead. I still think what Keith and Allura do on their own time is their business."

Larmina snorted at his assertion. "Allura's my aunt and that automatically makes it my business. And if she's got a boyfriend, that's even more of my business. Don't I have the right to know what's going on in my own family?"

"Especially if that knowledge can be used to do some good around here," Daniel added. "Like getting me promoted from cadet."

_Isn't there anything you'd like to get from them that they won't give you?_ Daniel telepathically asked him. _Why are you so against this anyway?_

_I'll tell you if you tell me what happened with Keith this morning,_ Vince shot back.

Daniel's expression briefly changed. _Nothing happened._

_Then why won't you talk about it?_ he challenged.

"Hey! Third person in the room here!" Larmina spoke up. "No mental conversations allowed. It's rude! Use your mouth for whatever you have to say."

"Sorry, Larmina," Daniel apologized. "I was just trying to find out what spoilsport here has against this whole thing."

"What I have against it is that it's wrong," Vince defended himself. "They deserve their privacy, especially if they are in a relationship."

"Hey, Larmina, why don't we just ignore him?" Daniel suggested. "If he doesn't want to help, he doesn't have to help."

"Fine with me," Larmina agreed. "Back to your plan. So we've decided notes are out. How else can we get them where we want them?"

"Hmm..." Daniel got a look of deep concentration on his face. After a couple of minutes, a big smile crossed his lips. "Ooh, I got something. Something brilliant."

Larmina rolled her eyes. "You say that about everything you come up with."

"That's because everything is," Daniel informed her. "Anyway, as I was about to say, the two of us lead them into a room, lock them in, and then convince them that we already know everything. They'll deny it at first of course, but eventually we'll wear them down and they'll have no choice but to admit that we're right. And that's when we'll show them the voice recorder. Power will be ours."

"Wait, are you saying what I think you're saying?" Vince questioned, again unable to stay quiet at this newest insane idea. "You're going to lock the queen _and_ the leader of the Voltron Force in a room with you and refuse to let them go until they tell you they're a couple?"

"Yep," Daniel proudly told him. "Awesome, isn't it?"

"Um, I could tell you every single thing wrong with it, but hey, if you want to throw away your future and get yourselves punished, I won't stop you," Vince said, putting his hands up in surrender. "It's your funeral."

"You're right, you won't," Daniel informed him. He turned his attention back to Larmina. "Now-"

"Hold on a minute," Larmina interrupted him. "I want to hear what Vince thinks the problem is. We need to be sure this is going to work. I don't want to have to go through this a third time."

Vince mentally grinned. If he could just convince Larmina to give this whole ridiculous thing up...

"First of all, do you really think you can keep Allura and Keith anywhere they don't want to be?" Vince began. "If they want to leave, locks aren't going to stop them."

He knew Keith wouldn't hurt either of them, but he would do whatever he had to do to get the queen and himself out of the room. Keith was not the sort of person to let himself be intimidated by anyone, especially two snartfaced teens, and he would do anything to protect his relationship with Allura. There's was no need to mention the sort of discipline that would follow that kind of incident. Daniel would be lucky if he was ever allowed to even _look_ at Black Lion again.

"And second and more importantly," he continued matter-of-factly, "you're going to need evidence of their relationship if you want to convince them you actually know anything. You're dreaming if you think you can force either of them into admitting anything. Unless you can back up your claims, they're just going to leave."

"I hate to say it, but Vince has a point," Larmina admitted. "They'll never admit to anything unless we have proof that we know. And that proof is the key to being able to blackmail them. We're sunk without it."

"So what do you think we should do then?" Daniel questioned her. "Are you going to wait outside Allura's office again with your digipix and hope Keith comes to visit her?"

"Ugh, there's no way I'm doing that a second time," she declared. "There is no way I could survive another day of watching Aunt Allura moon over her paperwork. It was one of the most horrible experiences of my entire life!"

"And I definitely can't do it," Daniel pointed out. "I go crazy if I have to sit still for even a short period of time. I'd never survive hours of sitting on my butt like that."

Vince began to feel a glimmer of hope. Was this nightmare nearly over for good?

Larmina sighed. "I can't think of anything that won't either get us caught or make them suspicious. You?"

Daniel shook his head. "I'm fresh out of ideas too. So, what? Is this it? Are we giving up?"

"I don't really see any other choice unless either of us comes up with a better way to get that evidence," Larmina said. She sighed again. "Well, this sucks."

"Definitely," Daniel agreed. "It would have been so awesome if we had pulled it off."

"Yeah," she nodded. "I would have kissed those stupid royalty lessons goodbye for good."

"And I'd be piloting Black," Daniel added.

"You'll get there eventually," Larmina assured him. "All you have to do is prove yourself to Keith."

_Your new best friend,_ Vince couldn't help but interject.

Daniel glared at him.

Before another word could either be spoken or sent, Larmina's Voltcom activated.

"Come in, Larmina," Allura's voice came over the speaker.

"I'm here, Aunt Allura," Larmina answered, looking annoyed at the interruption.

"There's something we need to discuss before dinner," Allura informed her. "Can you please come and meet me in my office now?"

Larmina made a face before responding. "Of course. I'll be right there."

"It won't take long, I promise," Allura said and the connection ended.

"Oh, this is just great!" Larmina grumbled. "Either I've done something wrong again and she can't wait to correct me or she wants to teach me some new boring royal thing. Can't I ever go one day without this hassle?"

"If only you'd gotten that picture, right?" Daniel remarked, rubbing in their failure.

"You're such a snart," she shot back as she stood up from her seat. "I'll see you two at dinner."

"See ya," Vince said with a wave.

Grumbling to herself about bossy aunts and horrible royalty junk, Larmina left the Lair.

Seeing his chance to finally get the truth about what had happened with Keith out of Daniel, he casually asked, "You never told me why you bailed on me with Lance."

As before, Daniel's expression briefly changed. "Oh, I, uh, remembered there was something I had forgotten to do. You didn't seem to need me anyway. You were doing just fine on your own."

"So it had nothing to do with Keith showing up?" Vince questioned.

Again, the expression shift. "Why would it have?"

"Come on, Daniel, we both know something happened, so why don't you just tell me already?" Vince pressed. "Was it really all that bad?"

Daniel gave a sigh. "You really want to know?"

"Would I be asking if I didn't?"

"Fine. Keith thinks I want to date Larmina."

Vince just stared at him. "What?"

"It's my own fault," Daniel explained. "I had this plan to get him to admit that he's seeing Allura by asking him for dating advice. How was I to know that he'd automatically think the girl I had made up was Larmina?"

Vince didn't get what Daniel was so worked up about. "So? And the problem is?"

Although neither Daniel nor Larmina had said anything, Vince had always thought they liked each other. Nowhere near the level of the Keith and Allura kind of liking, of course, but he'd seen the way they were together.

"The problem? Did you not hear me? Keith thinks I want to _date_ Larmina!" Daniel reiterated.

"I thought you liked Larmina," Vince said, still not understanding why Daniel was upset.

"I, uh, do... I mean, I _like_ her. We're _friends_. But... Man... I mean, I never actually thought about it that way," Daniel told him. "And I never thought she _thought_ about it that way, but Keith is positive she likes _me_. He says he's even seen her checking me out."

"Really? I never noticed that," Vince told him. He had, however, seen Daniel checking _her_ out. But he knew better than to mention it.

"Me neither. And I still haven't," Daniel let him know. "And that's not even the worst part: Keith wants me to talk to Allura about it."

"I guess that makes sense," Vince said thoughtfully, suddenly understanding all of Keith's questions when he had seen him earlier. "Larmina _is_ her niece. Maybe you need to get permission or something before you can date her because she's royalty."

"Maybe, but since I'm _not_ actually interested in dating her, how can I talk to Allura about it?" Daniel wanted to know. "Can you imagine how awkward that would be? And I have to stay away from Keith because he'll want to know if I've gone to see her yet. What if he's already talked to her about it? That would make it even worse if he catches up with me. I have to avoid being alone with him until this whole thing blows over. It's a total mess!"

"You know, there is an easy way out of this," Vince informed him. "Tell Larmina what happened and ask her to play along, which you know she will. Then you can go talk to Allura, listen to whatever she tells you, and then take Larmina out to dinner or something one night. Then tell Allura and Keith that it was nice but that the two of you decided to stay friends. That would take care of everything."

"But what if Larmina really _does_ like me?" Daniel wanted to know. "What happens then? I'm not exactly sure how I feel about her." He sighed. "I don't want to ruin our friendship."

"What you do is up to you, man," Vince told him. "But, truthfully, you really don't have much of a choice. This thing isn't just going to go away and you can't avoid Keith and Allura forever. I say just bite the bullet and go through with it. A date doesn't have to be romantic, you know."

"You're probably right," Daniel decided. "But give me a day or so to come up with something good to tell Larmina. As long as nobody attacks us, I should be able to avoid Keith and Allura until I talk to her. Deal?"

"Deal," Vince agreed, smiling. It would be funny if the whole thing ended up getting them together. Then there'd be two romances in the castle. "Now let's go get some dinner. I'm starved."

"Me too," Daniel said.

They got up from their seats and started heading out of the Lair.

But before they reached the opening in the wall that served as their entrance and exit, Daniel stopped and turned to Vince.

"Thanks, man."

"No problem."

Nothing else needed to be said and Vince knew things were well on their way to

going back to normal.

Well, they would be until Daniel informed Larmina about the date thing.

Vince looked forward to seeing _that_ conversation.

The two of them left the Lair in a companionable silence.

((()))

_This day can't get any worse,_ Larmina decided as she pushed her food around her plate, her appetite pretty much gone thanks to the bizarre conversation she'd just had with her aunt.

The whole reason Aunt Allura had called her to her office was to tell her that they were going clothes shopping tomorrow afternoon. Apparently, her aunt had decided that she did not have enough "dressy" clothes and that it was time to remedy that. Why, Larmina had no idea. It's not like she had any use for them. The only thing she was wearing these days was her Blue Lion uniform. What else did she need?

But Allura had insisted and Larmina knew there was no refusing the queen. So she had agreed to go like a good little niece and that had been the end of the conversation.

Aunt Allura had then escorted her out of the office and brought her here to the dining room, where she had seated herself as far away from her aunt as she could. (Allura always took one of the table heads.) She didn't want to risk being dragged into a conversation about the upcoming shopping trip. The less she heard or thought about it, the better.

It had been bad enough that her plan to find out the truth about Aunt Allura and Keith once and for all had completely tanked. (She couldn't even blame Daniel for it. Sure it was because of him that it hadn't worked, but this time it hadn't actually _been_ his fault. For once, he literally hadn't _done_ anything!) Now she had this awful shopping trip on top of everything else. She couldn't wait for both today and tomorrow to be over.

And to make things worse, she didn't even have her usual company of Daniel and Vince on her side of the table. For some reason, the two of them had been squeezed between Lance and Keith, who seemed to be having a lively conversation with them. (Daniel had not been kidding when he said Keith had been really talkative today. She wouldn't have believed it possible if she hadn't seen it with her own two eyes. It was a strange sight.) Daniel did not look thrilled while she could tell that Vince was highly amused by whatever was being said. She was sure they were having a telepathic conversation over whatever Keith and Lance were saying to them. She wished she could hear what they were thinking to each other. (But not enough to have her mind sucked into Vince's device to create the mental link! No thank you!)

If they hadn't been seated so close to Aunt Allura, she would have gone over and butted her way into the conversation, but she didn't want to risked being dragged into some gagworthy talk about shopping before she could reach them. Bleh!

At least Daniel wasn't staring at her anymore. _That_ weirdness had stopped over an hour ago, thank goodness, after he had come back from dragging Vince to talk to Lance. She still didn't know where that had come from and, to be honest, she really didn't care. She was just glad it was over. Daniel could be really weird sometimes. Cute, but weird.

Tired of playing with her food, she put down her fork and decided that her best course of action would be to leave the room. She'd stayed a proper amount of time and participated in any conversation directed at her so Aunt Allura couldn't accuse her of being rude. (This time anyway.) An early night was probably the best way to deal with this disaster of a day. Although she wasn't really tired, she'd rather sleep than think about the horror that awaited her tomorrow. (Clothes shopping made her skin crawl. Ugh!)

She wondered if she could escape without drawing any attention to herself. Pidge and Hunk, who were closest in proximity to her, were discussing castle defenses and sketching diagrams on their tablets. Daniel was still being monopolized by Keith and Lance with Vince trapped in the middle. And Aunt Allura seemed to be listening and adding her own two cents to whatever Daniel was being told. Literally no one was paying any attention to her. She would not get a better opportunity.

Of course, the inevitable happened and her chair made the dreaded scraping noise as she slid it back from the table, drawing the attention of all seven pairs of eyes.

_So much for my escape,_ she groaned to herself.

It was, of course, just the way her luck had been running today. Should she really have been all that surprised?

"Larmina?" Aunt Allura asked, sounding concerned. "Is there something wrong?"

"I'm just tired, Aunt Allura," she assured her. As much as her aunt drove her crazy, she knew that she loved her very much. (And vice versa.) "I had a long day and I think I'd like to turn in early. If that's all right with you, of course."

"Why wouldn't it be?" Allura wanted to know. "You go right ahead. We'll see you tomorrow morning."

Larmina smiled gratefully, happy that at least _something_ was going right today. "Good night."

But before she could turn to leave, Keith spoke up. "Daniel, why don't you walk Larmina to her quarters?" he suggested, taking her by surprise.

_Huh?_ Why would she need anyone to walk with her? As she'd said, she was just tired, not sick.

She wasn't the only one surprised either. Daniel's expression said it all. He definitely hadn't seen this one coming.

"Keith, I'm fine, really," she protested. "I'm only tired. I think I can manage my way back to my quarters on my own. It's no problem."

"I agree with Keith," Lance spoke up. "Let Daniel walk you. Just to, you know, make sure you get there okay."

_What in all of Arus is going on here?_ Larmina wanted to know as Daniel tried to sink down into his seat. She'd never seen him look so embarrassed in all the time she'd known him. Why the insistence that she allow Daniel to take her to her quarters? What was _that_ all about?

"Larmina," her aunt added, "a lady always accepts an escort whether she needs one or not. It's the proper thing to do."

Daniel sent her a pleading look. The only way to end his torment was to just let him take her back to her room.

She decided to be nice. Holding out her arm and adopting the most regal tone she could manage (as much as she hated her royalty lessons, no one could say she hadn't absorbed them), she said, "Daniel, you may walk me to my quarters."

Daniel jumped up from his seat and quickly came over to her, taking her arm.

"Thank you!" he murmured in her ear. "I owe you big time!"

"Yes, you do," she informed him. "Now, since we're being all formal here, aren't you supposed to kiss my hand or something?" she then teased.

"You really want me to?" he retorted.

"Heck, no!"

"Then let's get out of here," he insisted, "before they force the issue."

"Let's go," she eagerly agreed.

Larmina let him guide her out of the dining room. Once they were out the door, he released her arm.

"Okay, what the heck was that back there?" she demanded to know. "I thought Keith and Lance were getting ready to throw you at me if I didn't say yes. What was up with that? Does it have anything to do with your conversation with Keith this morning that you refused to tell me and Vince about?"

"Larmina, I wouldn't even know where to begin," he told her. "Today has been a very strange day."

"You wanna talk about it?" she offered.

"Not really, no," he let her know. "To be honest, I just want to forget the whole thing."

"You and me both," she agreed. "And tomorrow too. Guess what Aunt Allura called me into her office to talk about?"

"No clue," he answered without even trying. "What did she want?"

"She's taking me on a shopping spree tomorrow afternoon," Larmina informed him. "Apparently there's a sudden need for me to own dressy clothes."

She could have sworn she saw Daniel pale just then but decided that it had only been a trick of the lighting as they traveled down the hall.

"You have my deepest and most heartfelt sympathy," he told her. Both he and Vince knew of her extremely negative opinion of shopping of any kind. (Shopping was for girly girls, like her aunt. She despised it with a passion. If it didn't do anything for her music or her fighting skills, she had no use for it.) "I guess it's a good thing we abandoned our plan, huh? There's no chance of catching Keith and Allura making out if they're not even in the same place."

"Good point," she said. But then a thought came to her. "But maybe I should bring my digipix just in case. Someone has to escort us while we're away from the castle, right? It could very well be Keith."

With that in mind, Larmina decided that a shopping trip might not be such a bad thing after all...

((()))

Keith was pulled from his sleep by the muted sound of the lock code being entered into his door's keypad. The door slid open and a slender silhouette appeared in the entrance to his quarters.. He smiled as she closed the door behind her and came into the dimly lit room. He watched her every move as she quickly crossed the floor to the bed.

"You're here," he greeted his wife as she slipped under the covers beside him. He pulled her warm body into his arms and kissed her deeply. "I was starting to think you had changed your mind about coming tonight."

"Never," Allura assured him, kissing him back. "I'm sorry I'm late. It's my own fault. I lost track of the time. I was waiting in my office for Daniel and I guess I fell asleep. I can't even tell you how long I was sleeping at my desk. But when I woke up and saw the time, I ran back to my quarters, changed, and came straight here."

"Daniel never came to see you?" he asked, taken aback. He would have thought Daniel would have wanted to speak to her as soon as possible so he could go ahead and ask Larmina out.

"Honestly, I'm not surprised," she told him. "I think he was more than a little overwhelmed by what you, me, and Lance told him at dinner. It may have been too much information at once. He probably needs some time to process it all.

"And you saw how nervous he was when you asked him to escort her back to her quarters," she added. "He's not looking at her as just his teammate and friend anymore. She's now someone he has a strong attraction to. It makes a lot of difference in how he's going to interact with her."

"Are you speaking from experience, my love?" he asked her teasingly.

"I wouldn't know," she waved him off. "There was never a time when I wasn't in love with you."

He felt a small surge of guilt for all of the time he had spent fighting his feelings for her. He had only wanted to protect her, if even from himself.

"I was yours from the moment we met," he told her, stroking her back. Surrendering to their love had ultimately been the best decision of his life. "My heart has belonged to you since I first laid eyes on you."

"As mine is yours," she replied.

He kissed her again, more deeply than before. "I love you so much."

"I love you too," she answered. "Always and forever."

He smiled as his thoughts returned to the Daniel and Larmina issue. "Poor Daniel. He probably had no idea what he was getting into when he decided he wanted to date our niece."

"I love it when you say that," she said with a smile of her own. "'Our.'"

He gave her another kiss. "Everything we each have belongs to the both of us. Relatives included."

She laughed. "It's a good thing we both have small families then. You know my few relatives. Anyone on your side I need to worry about?"

Allura was aware of the nearly non-existent relationship he had with his biological family. He'd become estranged from them not long after his father had died. He hadn't spoken to any of his relatives for a long time even before he'd been assigned to the Arus mission all those years ago. Allura and the rest of the Voltron Force were his true family now. Her comment had been meant as a joke, which was how he took it. His wife didn't have a mean bone in her body.

"None that I can think of," he lightly answered. "Unless you count yourself," he amended.

"Oh, you!" she shot back. In her most regal tone, she added, "I should be angry at you for such an insult."

"You should," he agreed good-naturedly, kissing her again. "You should even have me punished."

"Don't tempt me, Commander," she warned, offsetting the seriousness of her tone with a kiss of her own. "As queen there's no limit to what I can order done to you for offending me."

"That threat will only work until our marriage is made official," he reminded her. "Because then I will be king and..." She let out a squeal as he rolled her onto her back and straddled her in one smooth motion, pinning her arms at her sides. "Your equal in every way."

It was strange how easy it had become to think of himself as the king of an entire planet. He had accepted the fact that becoming king would be the consequence of having Allura as his wife before deciding to ask her to marry him. Having her as his wife was worth any price, no matter how overwhelming. (Despite being descended from Arusian nobility, he would always think of himself as nothing but a space explorer and pilot. How could someone like him become a king? It was mind-blowing.) He would do anything and everything to have her in his life, even take on the role of a planetary monarch. And he knew that with her at his side, there was nothing he could not do.

"I thought you already were," she told him, all humor gone from her voice.

Unable to think of anything to say in response, he leaned down and kissed her yet again, deeply and passionately.

How he loved this woman, this beautiful, wonderful, and amazing woman who just happened to have been born into royalty on a planet far from the one he had called his home. He thanked God every day for the twist of fate that had gotten him assigned to the mission to bring back Voltron. If he hadn't been sent to Arus...

"You know," Allura casually said after he had ended the kiss and released her arms from his grasp, "speaking of relatives, if things go well with Daniel and Larmina, he could end up being related to us, too."

Keith couldn't help but laugh. "Aren't you getting a little ahead of yourself? He hasn't even asked her out yet."

He had not moved from his position and remained straddled over her. He knew how much she loved having him stay there. She had told him on multiple occasions how loved and protected it made her feel.

"I know, but it's still possible," she told him, propping herself up on her elbows. "They could be destined to be together like we were. And if Daniel marries Larmina, that means the leader of the Voltron Force will continue to be a member of the royal family of Arus. Think about it. First my father, then you, my husband, and then our possible nephew-in-law. And if Daniel and Larmina have children, perhaps one of them will inherit Black."

"It's always been my hope that it would be one of our children who takes over Black from Daniel," he quietly told her. "Or even Blue from Larmina."

Having children was not a topic they discussed often since they had agreed it was not a good idea as long as Lotor and Wade both remained threats to the universe. But there was no question that they both wanted them very badly. Starting a family would be a priority as soon as peace was achieved. They had talked about having at least two to start with. (They had both been only children and didn't want the same for any child of theirs.) If more followed...

Allura's eyes widened in surprise. "I-I didn't know you felt that way," she said. "The idea of any one of our children endangering his or her life the way we do... It frightens me."

He caressed her cheek. "If our children turn out to be anything like either of us, I don't think we'd be able to stop them from doing anything they wanted."

It hadn't occurred to him that Allura would not want their children to grow up to join the Voltron Force as they had. Defending her planet herself had been so important to her. But he could understand her fear. She had lost almost her entire family to war, including both of her parents. She'd want to protect her own children from the same horrors she had faced.

She smiled at that. "You're probably right. Though I could try to stop them the way Nanny and Coran tried to stop me."

He gave another laugh. "You mean by tying them in chairs and locking them in their rooms?"

"It almost worked," she informed him matter-of-factly. "I only escaped with the help of my friends. If I told them not to, they would not do the same for our children."

He could just picture Allura gathering the cybernetic space mice around herself and lecturing them on what they were and were not allowed to do with the children. She had never been shy about her relationship with the mice. They had been her sole companions as a little girl. It was just another one of her endearing qualities that he could not help but love.

"I think that this time I'm the one who's getting ahead of himself," he spoke, deciding it was time to change the subject. "It would probably be a good idea to let people know that we're married _before_ we start having any children."

"Funny you should mention that," Allura said. "I've actually been thinking about that a lot lately."

"About what?"

"Letting people know that we're married," she clarified. "Well, at least getting our friends used to the idea of us as a couple. You know it's going to be quite a shock to them when we announce that we've been together all this time. I'm worried that there'll be hurt feelings that we hid this from them for so long."

Keith thought about the conversation he had had with Lance earlier in the day. There was no question that he suspected that there was something going on between them. He wondered if Pidge and Hunk shared any of those suspicions. (He wasn't worried about the three teens. A secret romance between Allura and himself would be the last thing on their minds, especially Daniel's. He was too busy worrying about his own potential relationship with Larmina.) They'd tried to be so careful. Had they been less successful than they'd thought?

"I don't think you'll have to worry about that," he assured her. Judging by Lance's keen interest in the state of their relationship, he'd be happy to know that they'd gotten together. Pidge and Hunk probably would be too. He started running his hands over her arms and shoulders. "But tell me what you had in mind. I'm curious to hear what you'd like to do."

So she did.

And he liked her idea very much.

Very, very much.

**The End **


End file.
